Bera Supports 'No Budget, No Pay'; Never Supported Budget

The race for California’s 7th District Congressional seat is heating up. Democratic incumbent Rep. Ami Bera has released a new campaign ad claiming that he supported a bill that would withhold politicians’ salaries unless Congress passed a budget. However, in two years Bera himself has failed to vote in favor of a budget.

The ad, entitled “Example,” says that last year, “Bera championed a bill that says if Congress doesn’t pass a budget they shouldn’t get paid, and when the government shut down, Bera gave his paycheck back to the American people.” The ad begins with the line: “True leaders keep their promises, lead by example.”

The bill Bera championed is called “No Budget, No Pay,” and it passed the House with wide bipartisan support in January 2013.

However, according to a report by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bera had the opportunity to pass 12 budgets this year, but voted no each time. The report asks: “When will Ami Bera give back his taxpayer-funded salary for breaking his promise to support a budget?”

The report lists all the budgets from last year, and early this year, that Bera opposed. Last year, Bera voted no on six budgets: the Senate Budget, the CBC budget, the Progressive budget, the RSC budget, Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) budget, and the GOP budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

This year, Bera again voted no on a total of six budgets: the Obama budget, the CBC budget, the Progressive Budget, the RSC budget, and again, Bera voted down both the House Democrat (Van Hollen) budget, and yan’s House Republican budget.

The NRCC concludes: “It’s deceitful for Ami Bera to support ‘No Budget, No Pay” legislation when he refused to support every budget this year.”

Rep. Bera faces off against Republicans Igor Birman, Elizabeth Emken, and Doug Ose, as well as Libertarian Douglas Arthur Tuma and Independent Phill Tufi in the 7th District primary, to be held on June 3rd.

So far, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee blog Capitol Alert, Bera has more cash-on-hand, about $1.47 million, than all three Republican challengers combined.